Squeeze-and-turn child-resistant packages typically have one or more internal lock elements on the closure skirt that engage one or more external lock elements on the container neck finish or the container shoulder. To remove the closure, the closure skirt is diametrically squeezed at an orientation 90° to the lock elements so that the skirt ovalizes, the internal lock elements on the skirt clear the external lock elements on the container and the closure can be unthreaded. U.S. Pat. No. 5,915,576 discloses a squeeze-and-turn child-resistant package of this type. In plastic containers for this type of package, the container neck finish typically is of injection molded construction, in which fairly tight manufacturing tolerances can be maintained. In containers having blow-molded neck finishes, however, the tolerances on the neck finish must be fairly broad, so that the child-resistance mechanism must be able to operate over a fairly substantial angle of rotation of the closure with respect to the container neck finish. It is a general object of the present disclosure to provide such a closure, to provide a container for use with such a closure and/or to provide a squeeze-and-turn child-resistant package embodying such a closure and container.
The present disclosure embodies a number of aspects that can be implemented separately from or in combination with each other.
A child-resistant package in accordance with one aspect of the present disclosure includes a plastic container having a blow-molded neck finish with an end, at least one external thread, an arcuate part-circumferential ledge adjacent to the neck finish and a plurality of angularly spaced ratchet teeth on the ledge. A closure has at least one skirt, at least one internal thread on the skirt, at least one flexible resilient ratchet finger extending radially inwardly from the skirt at an angle to the skirt, and a seal element within the skirt for sealing engagement with the end of the container neck finish. Threading of the closure onto the container neck finish brings the ratchet finger into engagement with the ratchet teeth. The array of ratchet teeth and the seal element are such as to accommodate tolerance variations in the blow-molded neck finish while maintaining a seal and child-resistance capability at the neck finish. In an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure, there are a pair of angularly spaced ratchet fingers on the skirt, with the array of ratchet teeth, the seal element and the angular spacing between the ratchet fingers accommodating tolerance variations in the blow-molded neck finish. The closure preferably is a dual-wall closure having an internal skirt with the internal thread and an external skirt with the ratchet fingers.